All Tied Up
by Julia Claire
Summary: It isn't easy being the baby of the Weasley family. Written for the Hogwarts Online Forum.


**A/N: Written for the Hogwarts Online Forum's Prompt of the Day: Evil. **

All Tied Up

6:08 P.M.

It wasn't easy being the baby of the Weasley family, Hugo thought miserably. Lily was only a few months older than he was, but it was always _Hugo_ who was last, _Hugo_ who was left behind, _Hugo_ was the perfect bloody target.

He understood why, of course. Anyone who messed with Lily had to watch out for the Scamander twins, not to mention Lily herself. On the other hand, anyone (and everyone) who picked on Hugo only had to watch out for Rose and Albus, and Hugo reckoned that most people were more frightened of flobberworms than of Rose and Albus.

Which was why at that very moment, Hugo was at a family party at his Uncle Bill's and Aunt Fleur's house, staring at the empty plate that had, until a few seconds ago, been full of cookies. Sugar cookies, to be more precise - his absolute favourite. Not that Hugo had any hand in clearing the platter, of course. That had been Roxanne and James. They'd pushed him backwards, and grabbed all the cookies before he could even have one.

"I'll get you for this!" he yelled as they ran out of the kitchen, but he was Hugo, short and fat and eight years old, so they just laughed.

* * *

6:49 P.M.

Not half an hour later, Hugo was lying in the dark, tied up with the rope that Roxie wasn't even supposed to have brought. He'd been captured and placed up on the top shelf of Bill and Fleur's hall closet with the help of James's new, now broken, Firebolt, which he wasn't supposed to have brought either.

His face was scrunched up like a baby's, waiting for someone to find him, but of course he couldn't cry out, because he'd been gagged too.

* * *

7:14 P.M.

It was Rose who found him eventually, as he figured it would be, because she was the only one who ever noticed his absence. The others mostly only looked for him so they could tease him. She knew what had happened the second she saw him, of course, and since she really couldn't get him down by himself, she had to go get help. Which meant that he was left alone in the dark. Again.

His sister made good time, though, and barely five minutes later she was back with Aunt Ginny, Aunt Angelina, and his mum in tow.

He made a mental note to thank his sister later - she'd made picked the perfetc people to go to for help. Not that Rose had been _that_ impressive. As hard as it was to make any of his cousins to be nice to Hugo, it was a piece of cake to get his aunts to fuss over him.

"Hmph," he said, with the gag still on, and he scrunched up his face more and started to cry.

"Oh, Hugo," his mum said, pointing her wand at him and slowly levitating him down. "Honey."

She fussed over him for a minute, taking his gag off and attempting to untie him.

"What happened?" Aunt Ginny asked, getting straight to the point, which was fine with Hugo.

"I dunno who it was," Hugo sobbed, "But somebody tied me up and it was dark in there and I was stuck for ages..."

Rose rolled her eyes, but none of the aunts noticed.

"Well, I have a pretty good idea of who it was," Aunt Ginny said, looking at the broom on the floor, which was unmistakably her eldest son's, "And rest assured that they will not go unpunished."

"Can you untie me?" Hugo whimpered. "It hurts."

"I'm trying," his mum said, tugging harder, then pulling out her wand and muttereing an incantation. The rope stayed firm. "But it's not working!"

"It's George's latest inventions," Angelina sighed. "Which was most definitely not supposed to be brought to the party. It's still in testing - supposed to be a rope that you can't untie - "

"How are we going to get it off, then?" Hermione asked desperately. Hugo gave a wail.

"George knows," Angelina said, looking worried. "I think. I'll go get him - "

"No, wait a second," Hermione said, pointing her wand at the rope again. This time, it immediately seperated itself from Hugo and fell to the floor. "Got it. Are you okay, honey?"

Hugo shook his head and ran into her arms. His mother gave him a hug and Rose patted him on the shoulder, looking bored.

Ginny shook her head, "Has anything ever outsmarted you, Hermione?"

She shrugged in answer, but privately Hugo answered the affirmative.

* * *

7:26 P.M.

"I didn't bring my bloody broom!" Hugo heard James's voice yell from out in the hallway. "You told me not to, didn't you?"

"I know I did," Aunt Ginny answered him. "I just don't think you listened."

"Same with you, Roxanne," Angelina barked. "That thing is dangerous. Your father hasn't even finished testing on it!"

"It's not dangerous," Roxanne scoffed, "And anyway, I didn't bring it."

"Yes," her mother said, "Just like, I suppose, kidnap your cousin and stuff him in a closet."

The door flew open, and Hugo, still being comforted by his mother and sister, looked up to see his two least favourite cousins and their mothers.

"My broom!" James yelled, horrified at the sight of his broken Firebolt. Then, realizing what he'd said, he looked up guiltily.

"Alright," Roxanne admitted, looking confused. "So I brought the rope and James brought his Firebolt. But we didn't do anything to Hugo. Honest."

They were telling the truth, but no one except for Hugo and Rose believed them.

* * *

6:36 P.M.

"Look what I brought," Roxanne crowed. "Dad's newest invention - the Snakelike Suffacator. Tie someone up and they won't be able to get out for weeks."

"Can I see?" James asked eagerly, reaching out for it.

"Stop, idiot," she cried, pulling it away. "Touch it with your bare skin and it'll tie you up instantly. Why d'ya think I have gloves on?"

James pulled his hand back. "Weeks, though?"

"Well, no. Just until you figure out the right incantation. But still, pretty cool, right?"

"Pretty cool," James allowed. "But not as cool as what I brought." He pulled out something from under the bed.

Roxanne squealed. "A Firebolt! You got one?"

"For my birthday," he answered proudly.

"Can I have a go?" she asked eagerly.

"Not now," he sighed. "I wasn't actually supposed to bring it. Mum and Dad were afraid it'd get ruined."

"We could sneak out..."

"You knw they'll notice when they see us flying around," James sighed. "And I don't want to risk losing it. We could tie someone up though..."

"No, we can't," Roxanne admitted. "I wasn't actually supposed to bring this this either. Apparently, it's "dangerous". Mum'll kill me if we tie someone up with it."

"What about your dad?"

"He'd just think it was funny," she giggled. "Still, you don't mess with my mum."

"True, that," James agreed. "Let's go, then, we can still give Dom and Fred some of those blood-flavoured lollipops..."

"Okay," she said, standing up. "Let's put the rope and the broom under the bed, then?"

"Yeah," James answered, stuffing his broom under the bed. Roxanne did the same with her rope and the glove.

"How'd you get the Firebolt in, anyway? You all came by Floo Powder."

"I grabbed an extra handful and doubled back," he admitted.

The left the room, closing the door behind them. After a minute, the closet door in the room opened and out stepped Hugo Weasley, smirking widely.

He groped under the bed for a minute and pulled out the broom. Then he carefully slid the glove on and pulled out the rope.

* * *

6:42 P.M.

He snuck into the deserted upstairs hallway, and used the Firebolt to get up to the top shelf. He couldn't fly all that well, but he could manage five feet in the air - he was a Weasley, after all.

He dropped the broom on the ground when he was safely on the top shelf. The broom broke, although he wasn't sure if it was from hitting the floor or from the "uncontrollable" magic he had. Then he gagged himself, took off the glove, and lightly touched the rope. Within seconds, it had tied him up.

And, yeah, it hurt, but he really didn't care. James and Roxanne were as good as grounded. He had _them_ all tied up.

* * *

8:16 P.M.

James and Roxanne spent the rest of the party moaning about being grounded for two weeks and trying to figure out who framed them. They never did, but they did manage to get grounded for another week for all the revenge they try to get on the wrong people.

His cousins aren't the sharpest tools in the shed.

Hugo spent the rest of the party eating the sugar cookies that his grandma had made just for him. The rest of the adults fussed over him for a while too, but eventually they went outside, leaving Hugo alone in the kitchen.

Rose came in and sat down next to him. "So what'd they do this time?"

"Took all the cookies from me," he answered, licking his fingers.

"Why couldn't you have just told on them for taking the cookies from you?"

"They wouldn't have gotten into as much trouble," he pointed out.

She laughed. "So this is, what? The third time you've framed for something they didn't do?"

"Yep," he lied. Actually, it was the fifth. Not that he was going to tell her that. He and Rose had an agreement that she wouldn't tell on him as long as he didn't mess with her and Albus. He thought it was a tad unfair, seeing as Rose would love to see their cousins get into trouble as much as he would, but then again, he did mess with her and Albus sometimes, just not so she noticed. Anyway, she knew some of the things he did, but there was no way he was going to confess fully if he didn't have to.

His sister shook her head. "You're bloody evil, Hugo."

He just shrugged. It wasn't easy being the baby of the Weasley family, but Hugo reckoned he was rather good at it.


End file.
